Lin Zhaoyang opened his eyes to look at the night sky, unobstructed by leaves. The crescent moon and the clusters of stars were very beautiful, but this was not the time to appreciate them.
Sweat soaked his black hair and clung to his clothes. If he could simply crash and fall asleep under circumstances like this, he would have to be an extraordinarily tough person.
Lin Zhaoyang felt sticky all over. He wanted to go to the seaside to clean up and change into a fresh set of clothes.
Aside from the outfit he was currently wearing, he was also eligible to claim a starter clothing set. He had not claimed it earlier simply because there was nowhere to store it, but now he needed to fetch it and change.
Making items like towels was much simpler; picking up some vines would do the trick. This game simply refused to let players rest, requiring them to gather materials and spend some points no matter what they wanted to do.
After collecting the vines, Lin Zhaoyang shivered as he looked at the layer of fog wall that blocked players from exploring further outward.
The flowing fog looked quite interesting during the daytime, but late at night under the moonlight, watching it constantly swirl felt rather creepy.
Clearly, it was not a living thing, yet it kept moving, shifting in light and shadow with myriad forms. Lin Zhaoyang felt that he truly must have been quite courageous to have fallen asleep right next to it earlier.
“999, the timber on the ground will not disappear just because I did not tend to it today, right?”
Before leaving, he remained very concerned about the timber he had painstakingly chopped. It had consumed a tremendous amount of his time, and if it vanished, he would cough up blood.
[Rest assured! It will not disappear. The fruits of your labor will always remain.]
“That is good.”
“Then from this moment on, you are not allowed to look or listen. I am going to make a towel and then head to the seaside to take a bath.”
“I will call you when I am done washing.”
Lin Zhaoyang very much liked how 999 was always at his beck and call, ready to answer any question, but that also meant the other party was omnipresent. During such private moments, it was better not to have anyone around.
Although 999 desperately wanted to point out that seawater was not particularly well-suited for taking a bath, realistically, there were no other options available at the moment. Washing with it for a few days would not hurt.
He simply chose not to mention things he could not resolve.
After all, 999 was not a survival game system; he belonged to the Matchmaker System, so he did not view a player’s hardship as something normal.
When players squandered their points too recklessly, he would worry about their subsequent livelihood; when players suffered and had a miserable time, he felt a pang of heartache.
[Understood! I will not watch you bathe. Call me if you need anything.]
A hint of solemnity laced 999’s childish, youthful voice, as if to prove that he would strictly keep his promise.
999 was indeed a very good system. He only responded when Lin Zhaoyang called out to him, and for the most part, he did not turn on the visual feed to watch.
Players had their own solitary islands, and systems had their own solitary spaces. He was just being dutiful and responsible, which did not mean he would constantly stare at the player, because that would be far too perverted.
During the blazing heat of midday, seawater retained a hint of warmth, but right now it carried only the chilly crispness of the moonlight. The cold moonlight spilled across the surface of the sea, making the water feel even more biting and severe.
Lin Zhaoyang’s gaze flickered. The water looked far too cold. He silently opened the mall to check if there was anything sold for heating water.
“Hiss, hisss, so cold.”
In the end, Lin Zhaoyang did not take a bath. He merely used the icy seawater to wipe down his body before sprinting back to the wooden cabin. His adoptive parents had never allowed him to wash with cold water; he truly had never suffered this kind of hardship before.
Even though the wooden cabin was tiny and had an irregular hole broken in the roof, the moonlight streamed straight through the opening, eliminating even the need for a lamp.
Furthermore, he could gaze directly at the starry sky through the hole in the roof.
Lying alone in the moonlight beneath the roof’s hole, Lin Zhaoyang gently tapped the floorboards with his fair, slender fingers, calling out softly to his exclusive system: “999, would you like to watch the stars with me?”
[Oh? Can I come out now?]
[Look! I want to watch with you!]
Aside from answering questions, 999 had actually turned on the visual feed to check because he also heard a light tapping sound, like some kind of invitation.
Under the moonlight, the upper half of the teenager’s body was bathed in moonbeams, while a thin quilt covered his lower half. His fingers danced up and down amidst the surrounding light and shadow, tapping rhythmically against the plain wooden flooring.
[Ooh ooh ooh, is this spot mine? I am lying down here now, too.]
999 also had short black hair, black pupils, a white shirt, and a black children’s suit jacket. He had always felt that this look made him resemble a professional little butler.
“So 999, do you actually have a physical form, I just cannot see you?”
Lin Zhaoyang was not someone who particularly enjoyed being alone. Being by oneself led to loneliness, boredom, and overthinking; he had merely hoped there was a living presence to keep him company while he looked at the stars, even if it was not human.
Although he had intentionally left half the space for the other party, he had not expected that the entity genuinely had a physical body.
[Mm-hmm, in order not to disturb the player’s game experience, we are not allowed to manifest.]
The real reason was that actual players did not have high-intelligence systems like them for company, and it was even less possible for a single-player survival game to turn into a two-player experience. From any perspective, it was inconvenient for the system to appear during ordinary daily life.
“Alright, then let us watch the stars together.”
Lin Zhaoyang looked intently around the patch of moonlight on his right for several moments, but true to form, he could not see a thing, not even a single spot where the light and shadow failed to connect.
One physical entity and one illusory shadow; the two of them lay together in the moonlight, gazing collectively at the stars in the dark night.
Though Lin Zhaoyang could not see him, knowing that someone was right beside keeping him company brought a profound sense of relief to his heart.